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MUMBAI: In the middle of Dharavi, one of the largest slums in Asia, there is a popular Chinese dish of fried noodles that has been given a unique Indian twist.
Sohrab’s Chow Mein is this curious half-Indian, half-Chinese hybrid dish of yellow noodles sautéed in a wok with cabbage, green bell pepper and seasoned with a strangely bright red Manchu sauce.
It is the brainchild of slum resident Sohrab, who had previously worked in a Chinese restaurant.
“I came up with the idea to start my own street food business. This is my special dish. Customers love it, ”she said.
This type of Chinese-Indian cuisine is a kind of “Chinese food that no Chinese has ever heard of,” said celebrity chef Vicky Ratani. “It is a gift from India to the rest of the world. Is very good!”
Sohrab’s quirky set-up to serve its customers is a reflection of the ethnically and racially diverse settlement of Dharavi, where a mix of Hindus, Buddhists, Christians and Muslims like Sohrab live and work together, all desperate to escape poverty.
It is also in these inner-city neighborhoods that enterprising food vendors, using inexpensive and sometimes overlooked ingredients, can prepare and sell their delicious cheap street food to poor residents, as the documentary series Slumfood discovers. Millionaire.
WATCH: Feeding The Dream: Street Food from Dharavi, Mumbai (full episode, 23:00)
INDIA’S MOST LITERATE SLUDGE
In Dharavi, a thriving community of leather tanners, potters, tailors, and street vendors has emerged over the years.
The Sohrab food stand is one of 5,000 businesses operating there, and together with 15,000 small factories, they form the neighborhood’s informal economy.
He rents a small room in one of the dilapidated buildings where he lives with his family, including his wife, daughter and granddaughter.
“We try to fit everything inside because bigger rooms cost more. We can’t afford anything more than this right now, ”he said.
Sohrab gives away the leftover food to street children at the end of the day. Because why not, he says.
Every day the whole family collaborates to help prepare food for their business. His other Chinese-Indian specialty is Manchurian balls, or cabbage fritters with Manchurian sauce, a thick, glutinous sauce believed to have been created in the 1970s by Nelson Wang, a Calcutta-born Chinese chef.
Sohrab said she can earn up to 25,000 rupees (S $ 460) a month, enough to send her children to school.
“That is why we live in Dharavi, because here we can earn a living, eat well and educate our children,” he said.
An estimated one million people live in Dharavi, and with a literacy rate of 69%, this is the most literate slum in India.
The most literate slum in India.
His fellow street vendor Malai recounted how his mother was often asked by others why she was selling idlis (a type of tasty rice cake) even though he had a good education.
Malai and her siblings were one of 600 families who had migrated to Dharavi from Madurai, Tamil Nadu.
“My parents told me that the idli business is very profitable,” he said. “My idli business is doing well … The only downside is the lack of quality sleep and a lot of work is required.”
Idlis with tomato chutney
Every morning, this idliwalla and his brothers spend up to two hours traveling to different precincts in Dharavi to sell their South Indian breakfast staples: idlis, medu vadas (deep-fried fritters), and dosas (rice cakes).
“We need to travel very far to be able to sell our food. But we make a lot of money, that’s why we do it, ”he said.
“There is no place in central Mumbai like Dharavi. All Tamils are in the Idli business in Dharavi. “
Embark on a delicious journey through the slums of Asia – check out the Slumfood Millionaire series here.
